Unschool

This weekend I read through Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum. I'm not really in a position to be ordering a bunch of new books for this homeschooling venture, but there was a nice big section in the beginning that asked me to evaluate and determine my homeschooling philosophy. There was even this handy little checklist (oh how I love a good checklist!) that helped determine which of the popular methodologies I fit into. I wasn't terribly surprised to score high in the "Eclectic" category, but I was a little surprised to score so high in the "Unschooling" category. Of course, I didn't fit perfectly into any one methodology, but there seems something so radical about declaring "unschooling" to be an area I identify with strongly.

Really, I believe that all children have different educatioal needs. Public schooling, private schooling, homeschooling, sailing around the world, there are as many paths as there are kids. The Kid is generally a highly motivated learner. As I type this he is flipping between making music on Garage Band and learning skateboarding tricks on YouTube. Today he has also read for well over an hour, learned some of the political/geographical changes around our planet in the last 20 years, and learned about Least Common Denominator. He still has some writing and Spanish to do, but I know he'll get to it.

The hardest part of homeschooling, for me, is learning to let go of the reins a little bit. I made the decision to homeschool based, among other things, on a gut feeling that The Kid would benefit greatly from more freedom to learn and discover. I have to balance that with what I know about 11 year old boys. Yesterday was the first day of me stepping back and letting him get through his to-do list on his own. I needed to step in and help him look at time management a bit, but he got through it. We both did.

As with most challenges facing me, I have put a bunch of books by John Holt and other unschooling advocates on hold. I don't really think we'll ever become completely unschooling in our approach, but it is nice to see the different ways it can happen.

Day one

The first day of homeschooling got off to a late start. I overslept by half an hour which means The Kid did too. He woke up claiming not to feel well so I left him sleep for another half an hour then woke him up and sent him to the shower. He was singing halfway through it, so I knew all was better. He got dressed, ate breakfast and fed the cat. We are still working out his morning chore routine.

The first thing we did is get his notebooks organized: Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading, and Nature Study. After that we reviewed our plans for the week. Then he took an online state math assessment that would typically be given at the end of 6th grade. I don't really plan to do a lot of testing like that, but I wanted to know where he was in Math. He passed handily and everything he missed was something he hadn't studied yet. It will all be covered in his Life of Fred books, so I'm feeling confident there.

We then hit a glitch with spotty internet, but that didn't stop us for long. He cleaned and organized his desk in his bedroom. He chose his course of study for Science. He has to do an overview of the each branch of Science, he got to choose the order we'll be doing it in. He picked Physics first, which is of course the one I am worst at, so I'll be hitting the library for that.

We are starting Social Studies with some research on the Philippines. We hit the library for that. We'll be looking at some Filipino customs and a history of Filipinos in the US since 1763. None of the Filipino history books were available at our local branch so we put in transfers on them and are waiting.

He also started his blog, which we are both excited about. He'll be doing recaps of what he is learning for family members and anyone else who is interested, he has to write a book review for each book he reads, and he'll have some other assignments on there.

I was feeling full of doubt last night, but my excitement is renewed. I'm trying to not be too rigid in my thinking. We'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow we are going to a local homeschool playgroup and I'll introduce him to the Reading Workshop. Tomorrow nigh he'll be watching Nova with his step-dad and we'll talk about it Wednesday. We also have a trip to a new local museum scheduled for Wednesday along with his first day of LoF lessons. Thursday will be Social Studies and learning the research process.

And we're off!

Off to a good start

Dinner tonight is Basa with Tomatillo Relish. I am trying to get menu planning under control around here so I made a brief sketch of meals for the week. The plan is leftovers for lunch the day after. Here's what is on the menu for the week:

Monday: Spaghetti with tomato sauce and olives
Tuesday: Garlic wedding sausage; sauteed zucchini, cherry tomatoes, olives, and basil; rice
Wednesday: Parmesan crusted chicken tenders; macaroni and cheese; glazed carrots
Thursday: Pepperoni pizza
Friday: out to eat with the boychild to celebrate the weekend

I'm pretty happy with the list, the pizza is frozen and the macaroni and cheese is from a box but otherwise it's all made from scratch. I discovered that I still had some Simple Tomato Sauce in the freezer so the spaghetti will be easy as pie.

I think I'm starting to get a handle on my work/school/life schedule. I wasn't too terribly exhausted at the end of the past week and I got most of my reading done. I have a paper looming over my head that I meant to start tonight, but I at least have a better idea of what I'll be writing about so I suppose that is some planning out of the way. A step in the right direction at least.

My weekends are starting to fill up as seems to happen every fall. In two weeks we are heading to the coast for my cousin's wedding which coincides with the boyfriend's birthday. We were down there last year for his birthday so I suppose we are starting a bit of a tradition. I'm also trying to plan a camping trip to try out the new kayaks that we just bought. What else? Oh, I'm also trying to figure out to get us all down to visit my dad during hunting season. I'm not much for shooting animals but I do enjoy to eat them and hang around while the hunters are not so seriously hunting.

Okay, I've procrastinated dinner long enough. Off to cook.